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30 Great Things About Growing Up In The '80s

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Black Type. The readers' polls. "Thumbs aloft" Macca. Yes, Smash Hits' heyday was the '80s - and there was no finer, funnier read for a pop-loving British kid.

Which were usually made by Casio, and which sometimes doubled as calculators. Oh, yes.

Phillip Schofield's adorable squeaking sidekick (no, not Andy Crane).

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley (aided and abetted by Pepsi and Shirley) sold 25 million records worldwide between 1982 and 1986. A similar number of British market stalls sold knock-off 'Choose Life' T-shirts.

The best thing to happen to '80s hair along with the perm, Sun-In turned your barnet blonde (or more likely, orange) in an instant.

Pac-Man, Frogger, Donkey Kong, Pole Position... If you weren't playing them at home, you were playing them down the arcade. Pocket money was never spent so quickly.

Even if we were too young to understand all the jokes (especially the rude ones), 'The Young Ones' was an unforgettable - and incredibly quotable - comedy feast for us '80s kids. "It's only five minutes." "Tell that to Roger Bannister!"

Bolero. Mack and Mabel. And here, Barnum. Suddenly, ice skating wasn't just a sport but a moving, musical spectacle.

Dispensing little tiny fizzy sweets was never so much fun!

She chewed gum, snogged boys and showed her bra - all while singing and dancing. We British children had never seen the likes of it, and were forever changed.

Transformers - more than meets the eye! Transformers - robots in disguise! And so on.

The best way to get brain freeze as a child in the '80s.

In the '80s, British children liked nothing more than coming home from school to watch a show about children at school. Which was perfectly understandable, because that show was 'Grange Hill'.

They won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 with an audacious display of catchy pop, fluffy hair and skirt-losing. And lo! British kids had four new pop heroes.

A must-watch for British schoolchildren at lunchtime, after school, or both. Altogether now...

Did we know what they were singing about? No. Did we care? No. They had great tunes, and ever greater hair.

Which enabled us to listen to Duran Duran everywhere. Hoorah!

Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club... Hughes' movies weren't just relatable, they were a slice of cool American escapism.

...and the masters of the universe, of course. "By the power of Greyskull!"

"Britain's answer to The Jackson Five" weren't really that. But they were fine purveyors of kid-friendly bubblegum pop and shoulder pads.

What the Chopper was to the '70s, so the BMX was to the '80s. Especially after we all saw 'E.T.'

The same tasks each week, yet never a moment of dullness? It had to be the delightful, Douglas Adams-esque 'The Adventure Game'.

At last! British families had another board game to play apart from Monopoly. And it really sorted out the smart people from the, erm, people who regularly got stuck on blue Geography questions, ie everyone.

As popularised in the movie 'Breakdance: The Movie' and attempted, badly, by children at school discos throughout Britain.

British girls now had a pretty princess to coo over, British boys now had a member of the royal family they could actually fancy, and British kids everywhere got a day off school. Hoorah!

The tradition started by 'Multi-Coloured Swap Shop' continued with 'Saturday Superstore', which ran from 1982 to 1987 and was hosted by Mike Read (he of the colourful glasses), Sarah Greene (she of the hair scrunchies) and Keith Chegwin (he of the annoying laugh).

"Is it a boy? Is it a girl?" No sooner had Boy George confused British kids with his androgyny than he'd swept them off their feet with a string of catchy hits. Marvellous.

There was only one question on kids' lips in the '80s. And that was: "Can you do it?"

The best music compilation albums ever? Back then - when they were being sold to us by a pig voiced by Brian Glover - most certainly, yes.

The 'Glee' of the '80s. Hands up who didn't dream of flying to New York, auditioning for the High School Of Performing Arts and dancing on top of a yellow taxi? We know we did.